Just This Once
by megan.kerwood.7
Summary: Hannah gets hurt. And who better to look to then her best friend Garret? From Garetts point of view.


It was around eleven at night. A bowl of popcorn sat on my lap, a superhero marathon on the television. My phone sat on the table to my right. I open it. No new messages. Sighing, I go back to the show. Why would she call me? She was on a date she had been ringing my ear off about for the last week straight. And I'm sure I would hear every gory detail when she got home. I didn't mind that much, it was nice to hear her from her no matter how boring the conversation was.

If only she saw how much of a jerk that guy actually was. Everyone knew it at school. What could she see in him? I shoved my mouth full of more popcorn and sunk lower into the comforts of my chair. I didn't want to tell her because I don't want her to stop smiling. She has a beautiful smile.

But right now she's probably smiling at him. Hypnotized by every lie he says, laughing at every overly smooth pickup line he uses.

I get up, shut off the tv, and soak in the shower. Now, with only a towel wrapped around my waist, I stared at the soaking mess staring back. What is it that made me unlovable? My hair wasn't long enough? My arms not wide enough? My clothes not hanging enough? Why didn't she love me?

The phone rings. I run downstairs to pick it up. "Hello?"

"I need help." She breathed heavy into the phone. Fear and panic rang loud in her voice.

"Are you crying? What happened?"

"Can you please come get me? I'm at the school."

"Yeah, I'll be right there."

Taking the phone with me, I run up and put on my clothes before running downstairs and getting the keys off the ring. I was just about to go through the door when my mom pops up out of nowhere.

"Garret, where on earth are you going this late?"

"I have to go. Hannah is stuck at the school." Before she can protest I slip past her and shut the door.

Immediately outside I'm hit with heavy downpour. The keys slide around my fingers causing me to swear into a small puff of fog. Getting in, I start it and pull out to the street. All I can think about is getting to her as quickly as possible.

When I find her, she's huddled under a light post. From the car it was easy to see how badly she was shivering. It was only a second of hesitation before she runs to the car. I push open the door and she slides in. Mascara is running down her face, everything soaked through, eyes foggy. She seemed unable to move so I buckle her in and turn the heat on full. I stared at her, waiting for her to say something. Anything. But she stared ahead with an eerie silence. Reaching out, I try to hold her hand for comfort. She flinches away. I put the car into drive and head back to my house. She still hasn't said anything after I open her door and offer my hand.

"Come on. Let's get you warmed up and into some drier clothes." She doesn't move. "Sleeping in that car would be very uncomfortable." Finally she looks at me. Her eyes mixed with fear hidden by anger. "Hannah, it's raining. Just get inside." She takes my hand and I walk her inside.

"Oh, honey." My mom hugs her tight, then stepping back when she sees how soaked Hannah is. "Go take a shower dear, Garret will find you warm clothes. I'll get some tea going."

Without a word, she nods. Mother trails off to the kitchen, Hannah slowly advances up the stairs with me on her heels. She goes into the bathroom and shuts the door. In my room I tear through my drawers before finding her pajama pants, a tank top and oversized sweatshirt. I've seen her in stuff like this enough to know she preferred that over her normal skin tight clothes any day. When I know she's gotten in the shower I slip the warm clothes and a towel onto the counter.

"Garrett?" She knew I was in there. I didn't say anything but slowly crept toward the door. "Thank you."

Your welcome, I respond in my head with a smile as I walk back to my room and wait for her. Twenty minutes later she walks in, dressed in my clothes, with her hair up in a ball on her head. She looks around my room as if with new eyes. She doesn't look at me though. Her eyes lock on the picture of us on the nightstand. It was a year ago and we both had ice-cream smeared on our faces.

"You still have this?"

"Of course I do! That day was awesome. We had gone to the waterpark and you were too scared to go on the slide by yourself so we went together and you pushed me off at the end."

"Yeah, I remember. And I wasn't scared. I just thought it would be more fun to go with someone."

"So you had already planned on shoving me off? Oh, I see how it is."

"Yup." She looks at me with a grin before it falls and she bursts into tears. It happened so fast it takes me a second to register what exactly happened. Hopping off the bed, I wrap my arms around her as she cries on my shoulder.

Just then my mom walks into the room with two cups of tea, sees what is in front of her, places the drinks on my nightstand and leaves. No help. No advice. Looks like I'm on my own. I place Hannah sitting on the bed. "Hannah, come on. Tell me what happened."

It took her a few minutes of sobbing but finally she finally wiped her eyes. "Caleb took me out and he said we were going to a carnival but he parked at the school. Then he was all over me and I was trying to push him off but I couldn't. Somehow I fell out of the car and he shut the door swearing then zoomed off." She broke into sobs again.

"Well your safe now. If he trys to ever get near you again I swear I'll hurt him." She snuggles into me and her crying lightened. "Drink some tea. It'll warm you up." I gave her the cup and she sipped at it. "I won't let anything ever hurt you, Hannah."

The broken girl placed the tea back on the nightstand and pulled me to lay down next to her. She laid her head on my chest and wrapped on arm around my stomach. "That's because your my best friend."

"That's because I love you." I waited for her to say something then realized she was already asleep. I pet her hair softly and stared at the ceiling. I love you Hannah.


End file.
